Chennai: As many as 72,943 candidates have applied for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in Tamil Nadu for the academic year 2025-26, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) said on Tuesday.

The state offers 9,200 MBBS seats across government and private medical colleges. Of these, 7.5 per cent—amounting to 496 seats—are reserved for students from government schools under the 7.5% reservation policy.

Similarly, out of 1,900 BDS seats, 126 are set aside for government school students.

According to the DME, the online registration process for admissions commenced on June 6 and concluded on June 29. Of the total applicants, around 42,000 have registered under the government quota.

The DME further informed that applicants' NEET scores will be sourced from the central government and a computer-generated rank list will be released soon.

Online counselling for the medical courses is expected to begin in the second week of July.